Aramon is now, happily, a remnant of French viticultural history, a vine variety that burgeoned throughout the languedoc in the second half of the 19th century (the many who made their fortunes from wine around Béziers then were known by some as the Aramonie) and was displaced as France’s most popular only in the 1960s by carignan. For decades, particularly after the development of railway links with the populous north of France, Aramon vines were encouraged to spew forth light, everyday wine-for-the-workers that was with good reason called petit rouge.
